The powerful Iranian Navy is monitoring all movements in the Caspian Sea, Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Wednesday. Addressing the provincial officials in Sari, nothern Iran, Sayyari said the Iranian Navy monitors movements by radars throughout Caspian Sea region.

The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It is in an endorheic basin (it has no outflows) and is bounded to the north by Russia, to the south by Iran, western Azerbaijan, and eastern Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

The Islamic Republic of Iran plays significant role to give clearance to the commercial, military and industrial fleet, he said.

He said that the Caspian Sea is a major energy field holding about dlrs 50 billion of oil and gas reserves.

Iranian Navy Chief,
Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari

Volume of trade through the Caspian Sea is about 65 million tons a year with Iran constituting 20 percent, he said.